Freelance Fugitives
by Noelle McHenry
Summary: When Max's psychic powers return, the military takes an interest, and goes to ridiculous lengths to gain full control over the lagomorph. However, Sam is willing to go to further lengths to save his little buddy. A story written with melodiavalentine from deviantART. Not formatted very well. OC, OOC, and potentially suggested "Samax" warning. Rating changed to M just to be safe.
1. An Unstable Friendship

"My head hurts, Sam."

Sam sat at his desk, his jaw placed firmly on it. The phone started to ring. He didn't bother to move to grab it; there wasn't much of a need anymore.

"Sam? Sam, don't ignore me."

Sam stayed quiet and still.

"Sam! Hell-_ooooo_?! Answer me!"

The 6-foot-tall dog stood sluggishly and went to the fridge, pulling it open slowly. Not much inside... Nothing edible, at least.

"Dammit, Sam! You're tickin' me off, ya bone-head!"

Sam sighed and looked up at the ceiling. He'd be safe, so long as he hadn't forgotten anything.

"**_SAAAAAM_**!"

Sam nearly jumped out of his fur when he heard the roar and pounding on the window near him. His 'little buddy' had latched himself to the window frame, and was pounding against the glass with all of his might. His white fur was not-so-soft looking - all mussed up - and the bags under his beady brown eyes only added to the insane glare he gave.

"Open the window, Sam." The lagomorph grinned his typical, over-exaggerated shark-toothed grin.

"I'm afraid I can't, little buddy."

"Aww, come on, why the hell not?! I've been alone out here all night! At least, I think it was all night. I can't remember. Hee hee!"

"Max, I can't let you inside."

The rabbit almost looked hurt. "Why not?"

"I'm going to call the police if you don't get away from this house."

"But this is our house, Sam! _Our_ house! I live with you, don't you remember?"

"Don't make me call _them_ after you again, little buddy..."

Max didn't know what Sam was talking about. Still, he felt compelled to reply with "You do that, they die, Sam. Every last one of 'em - _dead_."  
>Max wasn't one to fight against whatever he felt compelled to do.<p>

"Don't you think you've hurt enough people, Max? Just turn yourself in to the police. Maybe, being as psychotic and delusional as you are, you can escape from them after that. But never come back here, do you hear me?"

"Geez, Max - I mean, Sam. When did you become so touchy? So maybe I bit that girl a couple times. She had it coming!"

"'_That girl_' was the _Geek_, Max! You put her in the hospital!"

"So _wha_~_t_? She was _pestering_ me, Sam! You know I hate it when people _pester_ me!"

"But that doesn't give you a reason to hurt them, little buddy."

"Oh shut up already and open this damned window before I strangle you with your crappy banjo!"

"No, Max. Go away!" Sam pointed his gun at the window, startling Max a little.

"You wouldn't shoot me, would ya, Sam? We're best buddies! Hell, we're the Freelance Police!"

"We're not _either_ anymore, Max. Now go. Go away before I'm forced to shoot you and plead self-defense."

Max went uncharacteristically quiet. He had on this sort of frown that Sam had seen only a few times in the long, long time that they'd known each other.

"_Go_!" Sam barked at his old friend.

Max blinked a few times rapidly. He hesitantly let go of the window frame and fell a few feet to the ground below. He swallowed as he sat there, feeling a bit numb.

Sam slowly lowered his gun.  
>"I hope I'm doing the right thing..." He mumbled to himself. He felt horrible, but Max had gone too far after their latest case. Both of them ended up getting into a huge mess with the other departments of the police force, as well as the commissioner.<br>Sam had managed to get out of the situation with only a banning from doing any freelance police work, but Max was facing charges of manslaughter, and was probably even supposed to be on death row at this time. Of course, with Max having such short-term memory and all, the rabbit had probably escaped and easily forgotten nearly everything that he'd done and had reverted back to what Sam had grown used to calling 'default'.  
>Sam put his gun away and was about to go back to his desk and sit down when he suddenly heard a sound he was confused by.<p>

'_Is... Is that...? No, that's impossible. I've never seen Max cry, __**ever**__. He'd never cry over something like this._'

Outside, sitting on the ground, Max tilted his head up and cried. He wasn't sure that he'd ever felt the way he did then, and he was slightly more certain that he'd never cried like this... at least, never in Sam's general radius.  
>If Sam were joking, Max knew that this would cause his pal to open the window, let him inside, and maybe snuggle him a little.<br>If not, Max was alone. Completely and utterly alone.  
>Max leaped back up onto the windowsill.<p>

Sam stared at Max with this look of pity on his face. '_Wow, he's actually crying... That's a sight._'

"Sam, what did I _do_?! I don't remember, and frankly, I only care because you seem hurt, and I _hate_ to see you hurt."

Sam looked at the floor. He couldn't just force Max to leave - where would he go? What would that leave Sam with? An empty void in his heart, probably.

Max grinned as Sam opened the window. "_Sa_~_m_!" He sung tearfully and cheerfully as he leaped into the dog's arms and hugged him.

Sam hushed the hyper lagomorph, subconsciously patting his large, fluffy head. "You've gotta stay quiet, alright, little buddy? No one must know that I let you keep staying here, or else we could both get into big trouble."

"I understand, Sam."

"You do?"

"... No. But if pretending to understand lets me stay here with you, then I'll pretend more than I ever have before."

"That's sweet... I'm sorry I made you cry, Max."

"Are we still best buddies?"

Sam hesitated. Max had done horrible things, some using his psychic powers, but all-in-all, it was clear that he had never deliberately tried to hurt Sam himself...  
>"... I guess so. Yes, we're still best buddies."<p>

Max's insanely-wide grin spread even wider, and he tightened his grip on his best friend. "Oh, Sam!"

"You worry me sometimes, little buddy."

"I know, Sam."

* * *

><p>Sam was asleep in the top bunk of his and Max's bunk bed. However, he was almost literally sleeping with one eye open. It would be difficult to fully trust Max again, he knew that much.<p>

Max's eyes practically snapped open. He looked around, keeping everything from his nose-down underneath the covers. He'd heard a noise.  
>"... S-S-Sam...?"<p>

Sam rolled over onto his other side so he could look down at the rabbit. "Yeah, Max?"

"Did you hear that noise?"

"What noise? All I heard was you call for me."

Max looked away. "Guess it must have been nothing. Either that or the giant mutant cockroaches have dug their way back into the cellar."

"Go back to sleep, little buddy."

"Okay, Sam..." Max tried to fall back asleep, but whenever he was close, that noise would awake him again. It was as if something was deliberately trying to keep him and only him awake, and it was starting to piss him off.  
>The hyperkinetic rabbity thing quietly jumped out of the bottom bunk and walked out of the room, trying to follow the sound.<p>

Sam couldn't go back to sleep no matter how hard he tried after being woken up. He let out a sigh as he sat up.  
>"Max, tell you what. I'll help you try to find that... noise?" He was surprised to see Max wasn't in bed. He got out of bed and tried to look for him. "Little buddy, where'd you go?" he called out.<p>

Max heard him, but didn't reply. He kept looking around the house quietly, but the noise didn't happen again - it was as if it only happened whenever he was trying to fall asleep.

"There you are, Max! You had me worried you went bonkers again and ran off." Sam said as he laid on hand on his rabbit friend's shoulder.

Max jumped a bit, but then pointed at the front door, his grin returning to his face as he looked at Sam. "Sam, the noise is coming from outside. I think."

"Well then, let's go see what the noise was so we can get some sleep." the dog smiled back and opened the door.

"_No_, Sam!" Max slammed the door shut and pressed his back against it. "What if it's an alien from Mars? What if it wants to _enslave_ us? _What if it wants us to treat it like a __**proper guest**_?!"

"Then we just do what we usually do, Max."

Max pulled his Luger out of nowhere. "Shoot it in the eyes and eat its insides?"

Sam looked at his friend with a disturbed look. "No, we capture the alien and sell it to scientists. Geez, Max, I swear you're getting more demented."

"Oboy, am I, really?" Max seemed pleased by the thought, which was somewhat typical of him.

"Yeah, but if you still wanna shoot it, you can after we find out what it is."

"You're the best, Sam! Now let's get out there and ruin that thing's day." Max ripped the door open and rushed outside, looking around with his gun out. "Show yourself, you damned dirty ape!"

Sam ran out as well with his gun in his hands, carefully looking around.

"My God, Sam, _look_! I was right! It's a freakishly deformed alien being from another planet!" Max pointed feverishly over to a walking ball of red slime.  
>"Hello, Sam and Max." The alien held out one hand to shake with Sam, and another in front of Max to be shook.<br>Max simply stared at the hand, as it was in front of his mouth. "..." He seemed to be contemplating on whether or not to bite this 'foreign object'.

"Max, no biting the alien. Shake its hand."

Slowly, Max extended his tongue. "He tastes like jelly, Sam."  
>The alien pulled its hand away from Max. "Freelance Police, some other members of my race and I have crash landed on your planet, and we were captured by these odd creatures in helmets. I was the only one who escaped from their barbaric experiments. We need your help."<br>"Can I shoot him now, Max? I mean, Sam." Max asked, not at all sympathetic or interested in the alien's plea.

"Wait a minute, Max. What's in it for us if we help you?" Sam asked the alien.

"What is it that you want? We'll give you anything you want if you save us."  
>"Anything?" Max asked excitedly.<p>

"Anything, huh?"

"Yes, but we must hurry. Follow me." The alien started sliding away.  
>Max suddenly looked like something had angered him as he held his Luger a little tighter, clenching his hands into fists.<p>

Sam looked at his friend. "Max? You okay, little buddy?"

Max feigned a smile, though he still looked noticeably irked. "Yeah, Sam. I'm _fine_. Let's follow the alien and get this over with." As the rabbit started to walk, he placed his finger on the trigger, as if getting ready to shoot.

Sam looked worried for his friend as he followed.

As they walked, Max suddenly leaped in front of the alien and aimed his gun at him. "Hands up, you lying pile of jam!"  
>The alien, stunned, stopped walking and held his hands up.<br>"On your knees!" Max demanded harshly. "Get down, and don't try anything funny!"

"Max, what are you doing?" Sam asked as he got in front of Max.

Max lowered the gun, not wanting to shoot Sam. "I'm prosecuting him for how he's playing with us like we're fools, Sam." He replied casually.

"How can you tell he's lying, Max?"

Max shrugged. "I guess my latent psychic powers are back again. He thought about how much he was going to get paid if he brought me to a military base so they could use me as a weapon. Right now, he's worrying that he's been called out for his bluffs. He's not really an alien, Sam. He's just some fat guy covered in strawberry jelly."

Sam frowned as he looked at the "alien" and shot a nearby fire hydrant; sending water flying at him.

They watched as nothing happened; the alien simply sputtered.  
>Max had a finger on his lips, as if somewhat intrigued. "Huh. Must be some powerful jam."<p>

"Or he could really be an alien and I just soaked him." Sam grumbled.

"Please! Your rabbit friend - he _lies_!"  
>"Shut your mouth, tubby, before I have to shut it for you." Max aimed around Sam at the alien.<p>

"_You_ shut it, Max. I've had it with your antics. We're doing this and then you and I are through!"

Max fell silent again. He put on a blank expression as he slowly put his Luger away to wherever he hid his things.

Sam helped the alien up. "Sorry about that. Now where do we have to go?"

"I stole a vehicle, so we should get to that to get to our destination faster. Then we go to where the creatures in helmets took the rest of my crew."

"Alright. Show the way."

The alien started to walk, but Max didn't move. He just stood there staring at the sidewalk, rubbing his right arm a little.

Sam stopped and looked back at Max. "Let's go, Max."

Max looked up at him for a moment, a hurt look in his spaced-apart brown eyes, then he averted his eyes again and slowly walked to Sam's side.

Sam's ears drooped a bit as they walked; now regretting telling Max they were through.


	2. The First Battle

Soon they got to the vehicle, which was just your typical run-of-the-mill car.  
>"Sit in the passenger's seat, Sam. We need to discuss a plan." The alien said. "Or <em>you<em> could drive. Your choice. I'm not very good at controlling this strange vehicle."  
>Max reached up and opened the back seat door, getting into the car meekly.<p>

"I'll drive." Sam said as he got into the driver's seat.

The alien got into the passenger seat and started telling Sam where to drive.  
>Meanwhile, Max stayed quiet. It seemed like the thought of losing Sam was the only thing that could make him stop acting like a lunatic, as he usually did.<p>

Sam followed the alien's directions and drove to the location.

It was a military base, as Max had suggested. As they got closer to it, Max raised his foot and gently nudged open the door to his right - he wasn't wearing a seatbelt, and he'd intentionally closed the door improperly.

Sam didn't notice as he kept driving.

Max let himself fall out of the car, quickly pulling his legs back so they wouldn't get run over by the back tires.

Sam saw him just as he fell out. "_Max_?!" he yelled out as he slammed down on the brakes.

Max jumped up onto his large paws/feet and started running away with just a bit of a limp, as he'd hurt his knee whilst rolling out of the car.

Sam jumped out of the car and went after him. "Come back, Max!"

Max tried to keep running, but his knee soon gave out, and he was reduced to crawling.

Sam finally caught up with him and gently picked him up. "Max, why did you do that?"

Max looked miserable, but he refused to speak, and he didn't struggle. He just looked at Sam and blinked.

"Max, come on. Please talk to me."

He shrugged in response to the question he'd been asked.

The dog sighed as he carried the rabbit back to the car and carefully laid him on the backseat. "Just rest in here, okay?"

Max turned onto his side and nodded a little.  
>"We have to hurry." The alien said. "We might not have much time to save my crew."<p>

Sam nodded. "Alright, now which building on the base is where they have your crew?"

The alien pointed to one of them. "That one. Unfortunately, we'll need to drive by that guard post to get in. Maybe if you make it seem like you've captured me, they'll let you in, though."

"That plan just might work. Let's do it."

When they drove by with the alien handcuffed, the guards seemed to fall for it and let them through, though they hardly seemed to give the alien a second glance.

Sam didn't show it, but he was starting to think what Max said about the alien was true and this was a trap. But he wanted to know who was behind it and drove into the building.

A soldier gestured for him to stop driving and told him to get out of the car as another one pulled the alien out.

He nodded and slowly got out, making sure his gun was where he could quickly grab it. "Now!" he yelled as he knocked out the guard next to him.

He was easily overpowered, as the alien didn't do anything.  
>Two soldiers reached into the car and grabbed Max, restraining him despite the fact that he didn't resist, and started carrying him away.<br>"Sam, thank you for not refraining from being a good citizen just because you've been forbidden to do any police work." One of the other soldiers said and held out a hand. "Now, as our decoy offered, we'll give you anything you want, so long as it's practical."

"The only thing I want is my best buddy Max back, you bastards!" Sam yelled at him; growling a bit.

Hearing that, Max's ears perked up a little. He bit the hand of one of the soldiers that held him, making them scream and let him go while he kicked at the other soldier. Nearly all of the other soldiers ran to capture Max.  
>"Now, Sam, that's not practical. Just ask the Commissioner - he's the one who told us to catch him." The one soldier responded to Sam, seemingly prepared to fight.<p>

"I don't give a shit _what_ he wants! Max is staying with _me_!" he yelled again and fired his gun at the soldier.

The bullet missed, but the soldier was knocked off balance from surprise.  
>Max continued to fight with the crowd of soldiers that was after him, and he managed to find a knife on one of them that he stabbed into their leg, latching his teeth to another and appearing to be having the time of his life and maybe just a bit <em>too much<em> fun.

Sam took advantage of the soldier being off-balance and punched him in the face before slamming his face into the ground.

Luckily, Max was serving as a great distraction for the rest of the soldiers, leaving Sam in power over the one guy he was fighting.  
>The soldier that Max had attached himself to slammed the rabbit into the wall, effectively setting him off and making him become frighteningly feral as he bit harder and kicked. He was doing alright, but it was clear that the soldiers were beginning to find a way to exhaust him.<p>

"I'm coming, little buddy!" Sam yelled as he started his assault on the other soldiers to try to get to him.

The soldiers turned against Sam while one started trying to choke the lagomorph out. Another smacked Max over the head with the butt of his gun a couple times until Max fell limp in their grasps.

"**_MAX_**!" The dog growled and started to pummel the soldiers.

The two soldiers with Max made a break for it, trying to get away. If Max were to wake up, one of the soldiers would receive a bite to the neck due to the way that the rabbity thing was being carried - with his teeth _inches_ from the soldier's throat.

Sam knew one way to wake him up. "_Max_, they're _stealing_ your _psychic toys_!"

The rabbit's eyes snapped open with a disturbed expression on his face, and he screamed briefly in protest before sinking his teeth into the soldier's exposed neck. The other soldier fell back from shock when Max closed his jaw so tightly that blood spurted from the torn flesh he was chewing and splattered against Max's white-furred face.

Sam continued to fight his way to get over to Max.

The rest of the soldiers ran for it, leaving only the two soldiers that had tried to take Max away, one of which Max was still crazily chewing the neck of.

Sam gave the other soldier a well placed punch to the jaw; knocking him out.

The soldier Max was attacking fell over, weakly trying to free himself from the lagomorph's relentless, shark-like teeth.

"You can let him go now, Max."

Max pulled away and spat out the blood that had got into his mouth, more of said blood beginning to spill onto the floor rapidly as the soldier twitched. Max watched the puddle grow quietly, but didn't really seem to think much of it.

"You okay, Max?" he asked as he gently picked up his friend.

"I think so." Max replied, grinning now while he watched the soldier stop twitching. "Hey, Sam, I think I _killed_ him!" He announced this proudly.

"Good. The bastard deserved it."

Max smiled at him, not noticing that blood was beginning to dribble out of his nose.

"Max, your nose is bleeding!"

"I just got beat over the head with the butt of a gun, Sam. Cut me some slack."

"Yeah, _alright_. I just _worry_ about you, little buddy."

"That's why I love you, Sam. By the way, did you really mean what you said? That we're through?" Max frowned as he asked this.

"I didn't mean it, Max. All the stress I've been through got to me."

Max grinned again and hugged Sam. "Let's get out of here, Sam, before someone finds the body."

"Yeah. Now they'll be looking for the both of us since I turned on them." Sam said as he started walking with Max in his arms.

"I still can't believe the Commissioner would turn on us like this. After all we did for the guy. I oughta sink my teeth into _his_ throat." Max grumbled. "By the way, that was fun, but who would've thought that blood tastes like _copper_? I'd always figured it'd taste like _chicken_ or something!"

"You tasted the iron that's in blood, Max."

"_Blech_. There's _iron_ in blood? Damn shame - looks like being a vampire isn't for me, then."

"Vampires can't stand _silver_, little buddy."

"Really? So then those wolf-things aren't fond of _garlic_. I kept thinking I was right having it the other way around, but I guess I was mistaken."

"Vampires can't stand garlic and werewolves can't be around silver."

"Oh. You're making my head hurt, Sam. Stop confusing me."

"Okay, buddy." he said, wincing a bit and now feeling all the bruises and wounds he got while fighting the soldiers.

"Sam? You alright?"

"I'll be fine, Max. I'm more worried about you."

"You sure? You look a little faint." Max grabbed Sam by the tie and pulled their faces close together. "DON'T _FAINT_ ON ME, SAM!" He joked. "_DON'T GO TOWARDS THE LIGHT_!"

"I'm not _that_ badly hurt, Max."

"I know, but I like it when things are _dramatic_." Max continued to grin his typical grin with his now partially-bloodstained teeth.

Sam smiled back as he continued to walk.


	3. A Refuge and Refugees

Sam smiled back as he continued to walk.

"So where are we gonna go _now_, Sam?" Max asked.

"Dunno. They know where we live so we can't go back there."

Max seemed to think, but he probably wasn't thinking about anything relevant. This was half-proven when he suggested that they stay with Geek, who was still hospitalized from his freak-out a few days prior that he couldn't remember.

Sam tried to think as well but couldn't think of where to go.

"Wait, so why can't we stay with Geek? She's cool; it's not like she'll immediately turn us in or anything!"

"Did you forget you put her into the hospital after biting her?"

"Oh. Oh yeah, I remember that now. She asked me where I put my gun one too many times... She _deserved_ it."

"I guess we have to go back to our place." Sam sighed.

"Wait, Sam. If Geek is in the hospital, why don't we stay at _her_ place? Not like she'll be going back to it anytime soon."

"That is a good point, Max. Alright, let's go there."

When they got there, they ran into a bit of a dilemma - that being the fact that the door was locked.  
>Max looked up and pointed wildly. "Look, Max - I mean, Sam. Geez, I'm bad at remembering who's who nowadays." The rabbit cleared his throat. "A window up there is open! Maybe you can throw me up."<p>

"Hope this works!" Sam yelled as he threw Max up towards the window.

Max grabbed the windowsill and pulled himself into the window, looking back out to give Sam a thumbs up. A couple seconds later, Max opened the front door. "Sam," The rabbit said through his teeth. "She only has _one bed_."

"You take it, little buddy. I'll sleep on the couch." Sam said as he walked in.

Usually, Max would have jumped at such an offer, but he for once seemed a little disturbed. "Eh... _Really_? You're sure you don't want it? Because her couch is... heh, how do I say... a little... '_small_'. Okay, I'll be blunt - it's a chair, Sam. A _chair_. She doesn't own a couch, which concerns me more than it probably should considering she lives on her own."

"I'm sure about it. You need it more than me."

"Sam, _I_ can sleep on the chair. I think I'll fit it quite nicely. You should take the bed, I'll be fine." He looked away. "Oboy, I'm becoming _responsible_. _WHAT'S HAPPENING TO ME_?"

"I dunno, but thanks for thinking of me, Max." the dog smiled.

"Don't let it go to your head, Sam." The rabbit wobbled a little. "I think those blows to the head are taking their toll. It's sort of a _cool_ feeling though, _hee hee_!"

"You better go lay down for a while."

"Yeah... Yeah, I'll... I'll do that..." The rabbit turned to walk to the chair, but soon after collapsed due to his injured knee, exhaustion, and pain.

Sam caught the weary rabbit and gently laid him in the chair.

Max didn't fit quite as well as he'd suggested, but he curled up and snuggled against the cushion regardless.

Sam found a blanket and gently laid it on him.

The lagomorph relaxed a little. Sam wondered if it was a good idea, though, to leave the little guy downstairs alone.

"You know what, Max? Maybe we should _share_ the bed for now."

Max wasn't really fully conscious to clearly hear the suggestion, so he just sort of nodded subconsciously.

Sam gently carried him to the bedroom; being careful with him and didn't want to wake him.

Max remained asleep.

Sam gently laid Max down onto the bed before climbing in himself. He yawned a bit before he fell asleep.

He woke up to Max's face, staring blankly at him with wide eyes.

Sam got startled and fell off the bed backwards.

Max sat on the side of the bed Sam had been on, dangling his legs over the edge of the bed. He said nothing, as if stunned by something.

"That's _one way_ to wake someone..." he groaned as he started to get up.

"You think _that's_ surprising? Just picture my reaction when I woke up _snuggled into your chest_." Max said casually.

Sam's eyes bugged as he sat up.

"I thought I said I'd sleep on the couch. Chair. _Whatever_. Why'd you bring me up here to sleep with you?"

"I just wanted to make sure you were going to be alright."

Max smiled a little. "I'll accept that answer." The doorbell rung downstairs, attracting Max's immediate attention. "Ooh, _guests_! I wonder who it could be."

"Um, Max? We're not supposed to be here."

"Aw, come on, Sam - what harm could it do to check? This isn't even our house!"

"Alright, but be ready for anything."

Max pulled out his Luger. "I always am." With that, the rabbit quickly left the room and went downstairs to answer the door.

Sam quickly followed him down.

Max held the gun behind his back as he opened the door. He frowned.  
>"... No one's there, Sam." He said as he looked at the dog to his right. "I'm not hearing things again, am I?" He asked, not noticing the red dot that appeared on his chest and moved up to the side of his head.<p>

"**_GET DOWN_**!" Sam yelled out and tackled Max down just before a shot was fired at Max.

On the ground, Max cheered a little. "Oboy, Sam! Snipers! _Real_ snipers! The Commissioner _shouldn't have_!"

"Not something to cheer about- **_AHH_**! _Damn it_!" Sam yelped as he got shot in the shoulder.

"_Sam_!" Max pulled his friend away from the doorway and seemed to panic a little. "Sam, I think they saw you get hit! They're gonna charge in here any minute now!" The little rabbit leaped up and kicked the door shut.

"If that's the case, you better get outta here, Max. I'll hold them off so you can escape." Sam struggled to get his gun into his hand since the shoulder that was hit was his gun arm.

"No way, Sam...!" Max refused to leave. "I'm not gonna let you stay behind and have all the fun! We're best friends - we have to stick together to the end, don't we?"

The dog teared up a bit as he smiled at his dear friend. "You got it, little buddy."

The rabbit wandered off and came back with an empty coffee cup in his hands. "And now, we wait."  
>When the door was kicked open, the cup flew out of Max's hands and smashed on the soldier's helmet.<p>

Sam started to fire his gun at the soldiers.

Noticing their resistance, the soldiers backed off, and shortly after, a smoke grenade was tossed in through a window.  
>Max watched the smoke begin to fill the room. He, strangely enough, seemed practically unaffected by it.<p>

Unfortunately, Sam _was_, as he started to cough and stagger a bit until he collapsed heavily to the floor and blacked out.

"_Sam_!" Max was about to run over when he felt a pair of arms wrap around him. He struggled in the grasp of the soldier that held him as he started to scream in protest. "_LEMME GO_! _SAM_! _**SAM**_!" They carried the hyperkinetic rabbity thing out and handcuffed him, tossing him into the back of a truck, where he started to snarl at them until they slammed the doors shut and drove away.  
>Soon after, the smoke started to clear up.<p>

Slowly, Sam started to wake up, feeling woozy. "M-_Max_..?" he asked as he looked around. When he saw that Max was nowhere to be seen, he knew his little buddy had captured.

Seeing as Sam had been left behind, it appeared that he was being given a choice. He could leave Max with them and walk free, or he could get back on the military's bad side and try to rescue his little buddy.

There was no way Sam was going to let his best friend be used against his will. He staggered to his feet, and went out to find Max.


	4. Selflessness

Max was most likely at that military base where they'd had that huge fight with the soldiers, and if Sam knew anything at all about procedures, Max was probably undergoing tests to prove whether or not he actually had psychic abilities.

He knew he had to hurry to save his little buddy, so he ran out the best he could to get to the base.

When he eventually got there, he realized he needed to find a way to sneak inside.

He picked up a rock and threw it in the opposite direction, hoping the guards would go to see about the noise.

At first it seemed like only one would leave, but that one forced the other to come along, being cowardly.

Sam grinned and hurried into the base.

From where he stood, he could see the tests going on. Apparently Sam had impeccable timing, as the guard that was stationed here was apparently on a bathroom break or something.  
>"What color am I thinking of, Max?" A man asked the rabbit, who looked broken and had a collar around his neck.<br>"_Orange_." Usually, Max would have made a comment after mentioning this color, it being his favorite color, but he instead kept his mouth shut.  
>A wooden block was placed in front of him.<br>"What do you expect me to do with this?"  
>"Pick it up with your powers."<br>"Dude, telekinesis only works on coffee cups."  
>"Pick it up."<br>"I'm telling you, I _can't_! Does it look like a coffee cup to you?"  
>Max suddenly seemed to have a little spasm and grabbed at the collar.<br>"Start cooperating more, Max. It pains me to have to hurt you."  
>"Get this damned thing <em>offa<em> me, you sadist!"

Sam growled and tackled down the man. "That's my buddy you're torturing, pal!"

"Sam! I knew you'd come to _shhfn_-." Max couldn't finish as he got a hand around his mouth, which he immediately bit. He was pulled out of the room by the soldier that was holding back a scream, leaving Sam and the man in charge of the tests alone.  
>"Maybe if your '<em>buddy<em>' knew who was in charge, he wouldn't be getting hurt." The man responded to Sam.

"You have _no right_ to do to him what you did! He doesn't deserve it!"

"He needs to learn to cooperate fully."

"He wasn't lying about not able to move the block with his powers! It only works on coffee mugs!"

"That's ridiculous, and you know it."

"Hey, I should know about my best buddy! I've known him for _years_!"

"And yet you convince yourself that his most powerful asset is only available for use on _worthless mugs_?"

"Max never had a reason to lie to me!" Sam growled, now starting to get pissed.

"Unless he was scared. Have you ever thought of _that_, Sam?"

"Scared? He has no reason to be scared around me."

"Did you ever think that maybe he was scared of his powers? My theory is that he just didn't want you to know how powerful he really was, lest he make you scared of him."

"I would never be afraid of his powers!"

"You're sure _he_ knows that?"

Sam fell silent. He never thought of that at all.

"Now do you realize that he might be able to do a lot more than he says he can? He's probably the most powerful being in the universe, but he just refuses to show it so he'll seem normal."  
>This could somewhat explain why Max always acted so loopy, considering it were true.<p>

"It doesn't matter to me. He'll always be my little buddy no matter what. I know I yelled at him at times and said some things I didn't mean, but he's the best friend I'll ever have!"

"Why don't you stick around for a little and watch the rest of the tests? He'll be much more useful here than he would without a purpose, and also less dangerous."

"You honestly think I'm going to let you keep torturing my friend? Think again."

"It won't be torture for him if you help me talk him into obeying the instructions."

"But then you'll use him like a _tool_!"

"Would you rather he run rampant again like he did a few days ago?"

"I'd rather have him like _that_ than to have him be a brainwashed tool of yours!"

"You'd rather he lose his mind and take more innocent lives? You have a _strange_ sense of _morals_, Sam. What if the next time he snaps, he hurts you? Or what if he hurts himself?"

"He would _never_ hurt me or himself!"

"Think about what you just said while you think about whether or not you expected him to attack one of your allies and then a ton of other people. He'll be put to a better use if he stays _here_! He'll be safe from himself, and so will everyone else."

"I _won't_ let you use him! I'm going to get my buddy outta here!" Sam growled.

"I suppose that leaves us with only one choice, then. We'll have to keep him from you by force."

"You're not going to keep him from me! I'm going to bust him outta here!"

"You know what? Go ahead and try. You won't make it very far." The man was very dismissive of the idea of them actually escaping, and he went as far as to call for the soldiers to return Max to the room. "Now you can make a final decision. Will you help in the tests, or will you try to take him from us?"

"You already know my answer, you bastard!"

A soldier returned Max to the room, and the rabbit immediately brightened when he saw Sam was still there.  
>"Sa~m!" He jumped up and clung to his friend. "Take me out of here, Sam, before I rip this guy's jugular vein open too."<p>

Sam hugged Max back. "Of course I'll get you out of here, little buddy." The dog looked at the man. "Max is coming with me and I will _kill_ you if you try to stop me."

"Give it a shot." The man said offhandedly.  
>"Ooh, Sam, a <em>death threat<em>? I love it!" Max grinned.

Sam shakily raised his gun at the man. "Help me _aim_, Max. My arm's still messed up from earlier."

"Oh, I'll do _more_ than help you _aim_, Sam." Max held Sam's arm in place with one hand, and with the other, he aimed with his own gun.  
>"Where in the <em>world<em> do you keep that thing?" The man asked Max.  
>Max twitched a little in response to the question, and a side of his grin was yanked down by an invisible force, making it half frown and half grin.<p>

"That's one thing you _don't_ ask Max, asshole." Sam said as he fired his gun.

He managed to nick the guy, but that was about it - he and Max never had been very good shots.  
>Max screamed at the guy and lunged at him, practically throwing the gun away and deciding to use just his razor-sharp teeth instead. The last time he'd been asked that question, he completely lost his mind, so it seemed somewhat ironic that the man had been talking about how Max would be kept sane here and then he accidentally ended up making Max lose it.<p>

Sam smirked as he watched Max start to maul the man.

Soon, the murderous rabbit stood, more blood on him than before. He stared down at the man's husk under him, noting somewhere in his random little head that he was dead.

"Let's get outta here, little buddy."

The noise seemed to startle Max, who had already hated being startled, as the lagomorph whipped around and jumped at Sam, nearly slamming the dog into the wall. He started to let out his unnatural snarl when suddenly he stopped and examined his '_prey_.'  
>"Oh, Sam, it's <em>you<em>. Sorry, I think my undying rage and my berserk and bloodthirsty thoughts blinded me for a second there. Good thing I caught myself, huh? _Hee hee_!"

The dog stood there in shock. "You almost _attacked_ me..."

"You startled me, Sam. You know how much I _hate_ to be startled. Remember that time I shot a clown in the face because he came outta nowhere?" The rabbit snickered as he jumped down from Sam and picked up his Luger, putting it back in his mysterious hammerspace. "Good times. Now let's go before this urge to kill grows beyond my control, yes?"

Sam nodded and started to walk.

"Sam, you know I'd never hurt you, _r_-" As they stepped outside, Max started to stutter and he backed away quickly, gently grabbing the collar around his neck and trying to look at it. He shrugged at something and tried to walk outside, only to be reduced to his knees when the collar activated and started to electrocute him.

Sam looked back at his friend and hurried over to him, grabbing the collar and trying to get it off Max.

It only zapped him too as Max crumpled to the floor and nearly cried out, kicking his feet wildly. It wasn't going to come off that easy.

Sam ended up letting go of the collar and falling back, panting in pain.

Max tried to push himself back into the building, but he couldn't, so he just lay there and writhe.

Sam quickly but carefully picked up Max and hurried back into the building.

The collar turned off again and Max trembled weakly in Sam's grip.

"I'll figure out a way to get that off you, little buddy." he reassured Max.

"I hope you _do_, Sam..." The rabbit replied in an almost drunken-sounding tone, looking about ready to faint.

Sam held the injured rabbit as he looked for a way to get the collar off.

"Sam..." Max droned. "Sam, the _soldiers_ are coming..."

"Damn it! And we're in no shape to fight them!" he said as he ran to find cover.

"Just let me _go_, Sam... It's _me_ they want... You can _escape_ if you _let me go_..." Max said. Sam wondered a bit if the electric shocks had effected Max greater than it seemed on the outside, as the rabbit wasn't regularly so selfless.

"_No way_, Max. We're best buddies and best buddies stay together until the end. If they want _you_, they'll have to take _me_,_ too_."

Max snuggled into his friend a bit.  
>One of the soldiers pulled out his gun and started shooting at Sam.<p>

Sam tried to run but yelled in pain as he got shot several times and fell against the wall.

"_Sam_?!" Max jumped out of Sam's arms, now jolted into awareness, and knelt next to his friend. The soldiers approached slowly. The rabbit saw the wounds and must realized the _seriousness_ of them, judging by the grim look on his face.  
>One of the soldiers raised their gun to shoot Max, seeing him as a threat.<p>

Sam panted heavily as he tried to raise his gun at them, but couldn't find the strength to do so.

They pulled the trigger, and Sam saw the bullet stop behind Max's head. The lagomorph stood, trembling, and slowly turned to face the soldiers.  
>"You just made the <em>worst mistake of your lives<em>." Max growled at them. The rabbit then screamed like a child having a temper tantrum, and everything started to go to hell around him. Guns discharged, crates flew into people, lights smashed, and most of all, people were killed.

Sam saw blood splattering everywhere just before he passed out.


	5. Beginning of Nightmares

He woke up later on the bed in Geek's house. His wounds had been crudely treated, and Max sat next to him in a floating chair, practically covered in blood.

"M-Max...? Is that you...?"

"Sam! Oboy, I'm so relieved that you woke up. I took a trophy from our little battle back there." The now-crimson rabbit lift his hand, and a decapitated head floated up from the floor. "I figured I'd need something to remember this moment - the full release of my once-latent psychic powers!"

"You have full use of your powers now...?"

"Completely full use! As you can probably already tell, telekinesis works on more than just coffee cups now, and that's not all I can do, not even close!"

Sam winced as he carefully sat up. "What else can you do?"

"A lot of very destructive things, Sam. I love it! I set guys on fire back there just by thinking about it, and I can teleport now too!"

"That's great, Max."

The rabbit made the chair he sat in spin slowly in circles. "So anyways, I brought you back here after I killed them all. I tried to heal you, but the most I was able to do was set fire to the end of your tie, so I decided to just use that red box that Geek kept in the bathroom cabinet. Guess I don't have a healing power."

"You tried your best, little buddy."

Max shrugged a bit.

Sam winced more as he tried to get out of bed.

He was forced back down by an invisible force.  
>"You shouldn't be trying to move about yet, Sam. Those bastards hurt you pretty bad back there."<p>

"I'm not _that_ badly hurt, am I?"

"Trust me, Sam. You'll only hurt yourself more if you move around. Relax while you have the time. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go try gnawing this collar off again."

"Okay, Max." Sam said as he laid back down.

Max and the chair floated out of the room, leaving Sam alone.

Sam decided to get some much needed sleep and closed his eyes.

When he awoke later, Max was still out of the room.

He slowly got out of bed and went to look for him in the house.

The rabbit was restlessly wandering about the house, seeming bored and lonesome.

"Max? Are you okay?"

"Sam?" Max looked at him. "I thought I told you to stay in bed, Sam."

"I know but I wanted to check on you, and you look so lonely."

Max looked away. On top of everything else, the rabbit was still acting strange and unlike his usual self.

"Max, is something wrong?"

"Of course not, Sam. What makes you think something's wrong?"

"You're not acting like your usual self."

"I'm not? Hm. Well, I feel fine - better than ever, really - so I don't really know what you mean, Sam."

"I think I know what's wrong. You think I'm going to treat you different now that your powers are fully unleashed."

"When did you become a psychic too, Sam?" The rabbit looked only a tad concerned. "I mean, I hope you won't treat me any different now that I'm at least 10 times as impulsively destructive than I was before." Max then giggled a bit.

Sam hugged the rabbit, ignoring his own wounds. "I would never treat you different, little buddy. You're my best buddy."

Max seemed pleased as he gently held Sam back. "Thanks, Sam. I _think_ that means a lot to me."

The dog smiled at his friend. "And thanks for saving my hide back there."

"What else was I supposed to do, Sam? Leave you there for them to test later, considering anyone ever returned since I killed them all? _Hee hee_!"

"Good point." Sam groaned a bit. "Damn. I think I reopened one of my wounds."

The still-blood-caked lagomorph pulled back from the hug. "You'd better go lay back down, Sam."

"I will, Max." Sam said as he headed for the bedroom.

As he left the room, Max seemed to go right back to acting strange.

Sam laid back down on the bed and went to sleep.

He started to have a very strange dream.

He was in an empty room, and he was covered in blood.

It was quiet in the room... _too_ quiet.

Sam started to walk and look around.

Max was nowhere to be found.

Sam kept walking. "Max, are you here somewhere?" he called out.

Silence.

The dog got a chill down his spine as he kept walking.

Soon he found Max, who was dancing around, playing with fire via his apparent pyrokinesis.

"Max?"

Max looked over quickly as the fire dissipated. He said nothing - he only stared at Sam with his teeth showing per normal.

"What's going on, little buddy?"

"Nothing." He said quickly.

"You're acting strange again."

The rabbit twitched a little. He almost looked ready to pounce.

"M-Max...?" he stammered as he backed up a bit.

"Don't worry, Sam, I'd never hurt you." Just despite these words, he lunged at Sam with his jaws opened wide to bite.

Sam quickly ducked and scrambled out of the way.

Max turned to face him. "Don't make me hold you in place, Sam. I want this to be fun."

"Why are you attacking me?"

"I'm really bored, Sam. Plus, I found out I really like that red color blood adds to my fur."

"You don't have to attack me!"

"That's just it, Sam! There's no one else for me to attack other than you. You let me kill everyone else, don't you remember?"

"I-I did?"

"Yeah! It was cool, but it surprisingly didn't last long."

Sam gulped a bit.

"So let's make our final bit of teamwork really shine, okay?" The rabbit started to slowly approach.

"D-don't do this, Max!" Sam yelled as he backed into a wall.

"I have to, Sam! There's nothing else for me to do! I'm going crazy from boredom - _I have to do this_!"

Sam woke up just as Max jumped for his throat.

After a moment he noticed that the psychic lagomorph, again, was out of room.

Sam slowly got out of bed to look for him.

Max was still roaming around the house, but he looked more bored.

"You alright, Max?"

Max looked at him. "I'm so _bored_, Sam."

Sam gulped silently. "Y-yeah?"

"What should we do?"

"Dunno."

The rabbit impatiently tapped his foot against the ground as he tried to think of something to do.

Sam's nightmare played in his head as he watched Max, hoping that Max wouldn't really attack him out of boredom.

Max looked at him. "Sam? What's up? You look pale." He then thought about that comment. "_Eeehhh_... Never mind, that made a little less sense than I hoped it would. You get the point though, right, Sam?"

"I had a bad nightmare earlier; you attacked me out of boredom."

"I'd never do that, Sam."

"I know, buddy. I know."

"I'm just so _damn_ bored... I wish we had something to do."

"Me too."

"... I wonder if there are any other hidden military bases nearby." Even as Max was saying this, Sam already knew that the rabbit was suggesting that he wanted to go off and kill some more.

"You want to kill more people, Max?"

"Well, it is pretty fun... Can I, Sam?"

Sam didn't want to disappoint his friend by saying no but he didn't like the thought that more people were going to die if he said yes.

Plus, if he said yes, the rest of the nightmare might very well occur.  
>"Pretty please, Sam? It's the only thing I can think of to do." Luckily, Max was fairly easy to distract. If Sam could just find a way to change the subject to something that would hold Max's interest...<p>

Then Sam got an idea. "I just remembered a game you used to play when things were slow during our days as Freelance Police; whack-a-roach."

"But Sam," Max pulled out a hammer. "There are no roaches here..." He put the hammer away.

"There's plenty of spiders you can whack instead."

The rabbit pulled the hammer out again and started searching for a spider to crush.

Sam let out a sigh.

Soon enough, Max found a single spider. He smashed it with the hammer, but seemed somewhat unsatisfied. Then he lit the spider's remains on fire and giggled.

Sam watched him.

Max couldn't seem to find anymore spiders, so he wandered over to Sam. "I'm exhausted, Sam. Maybe my powers still have some form of cruel limits."

"Well, this is the first time you had full use of them. You're not used to using them completely yet."

"I guess that makes sense."

"So you better get some rest."

"Okay, Sam." Max jumped onto the chair.

Sam groaned softly. His wounds weren't healing like they should and some were reopening. He needed a doctor badly.

"Sam? You're not going to faint again, are you?"

Before the dog could answer, he staggered a bit and leaned against the wall, his breathing getting weak.

Max jumped up. "Sam...? Should I use my powers to kidnap a doctor or something?"

Sam shook his head. "I'll be fine..."

The lagomorph gave Sam a worried look - a look that Sam didn't see on his face very often at all.

Sam then nearly fell over.

Max kicked the arm of the chair. "Dammit, Sam, you shouldn't lie to me. I'm just gonna quickly teleport to the hospital and grab a doctor, then I'll be right back. Though it is a damn shame that I can't put everyone there out of their _misery_."

Sam slowly nodded.

In a flash of light, Max disappeared.

Sam started to feel tired, so he slumped to the floor and closed his eyes.


	6. Impostor

When he woke up, Sam found himself in a hospital bed. Max sat next to him, but this time the chair remained stationary on the floor.

"M-_Max_...?" he said weakly.

"Oh, Sam, you're _awake_." The rabbit didn't seem to be doing so good himself, and in fact, he looked utterly exhausted and incredibly irked.

"Are you feeling okay, M-Max?"

"I probably would be if it weren't for those _damn pests_ outside trying to get inside to arrest us. I have to keep them outside. I've been keeping this up for hours, Sam!"

"They should give up soon."

"Sam, they're looking at an invisible wall. I think they're too interested by that fact to give up."

Sam thought for a moment. "Perhaps if we could scare them away..."

Max grinned a bit at the idea, his beady brown eye twitching. "Or I could set them all on fire."

"I guess that works too." Sam sighed.

He heard screams from outside, and Max's grin stretched further across his face. "That's a little better."

"You should get some sleep, little buddy. You look exhausted."

"I'll be fine, Sam."

"You sure?"

Max nodded a little, but he really did look completely fatigued and therefore seemed grumpy and irritable.

"You really should rest, Max. I think we're safe for now."

"I'm good."

"Alright."

Max went quiet.

"Max? You alright?"

"_Yeah_, Sam."

"I _really_ think you should _rest_."

"_Sam_. I'll be _fine_." He said this a little harshly, becoming a bit annoyed.

Sam flinched a bit, not liking the harshness of his friend's voice.

Max seemed to notice, as when he spoke again, he spoke a little more gently. "I'll rest later."

"Y-yeah."

"... Sorry for snapping at you, Sam. I'm just not feeling so great."

"I understand, Max."

Max smiled a bit.

Sam smiled back as he laid down.

Max sat there quietly, running his toes along the pattern in the floor tiles.

"Wonder if the Geek is still here."

"Probably."

"I hope she's doing better."

Max didn't reply.

Sam looked at his rabbit friend. "Max?"

"Yeah, Sam?"

"Maybe we could check on her later."

"I _guess_." The lagomorph didn't seem too excited by the idea.

"We don't have to if you don't want to."

Max smiled a little.

"Well, I'm going to rest for a bit."

"Alright, Sam."

Sam smiled a bit before he fell asleep.

He started to have another bizarre dream.

Sam looked around a bit.

He was still in the hospital, but it was empty.

There was no one in sight and it gave Sam a sense of unease.

Everything felt sort of... _wrong_.

"Hello? Is anyone here?" he called out.

Max appeared beside him. "You're awake." He smiled.

Sam jumped a bit. "What happened here?"

"Have you forgotten again, Sam? I killed everyone."

"Wh-what? Why did you kill them all?"

Max shrugged. "They annoyed me."

"You can't kill people just because of that."

"That's never really stopped me before. Neither have _you_ for that matter." Max grinned.

"Wh-what?"

"You didn't try to stop me from killing them all, Sam."

"I-I _didn't_?"

Max shook his furry little head, still grinning.

"This can't be right..."

"What do you mean, Sam?"

"I would've stopped you..."

"Why?"

"It's wrong to kill people for nothing."

"They _bothered_ me, Sam. You know how much I hate being bothered."

"_That's still not a good reason to kill_!"

"What's _happened_ to you, Sam? Usually you wouldn't be scolding me like this."

"Well, you didn't kill people for fun before!"

"Because I couldn't. I _can_ now. It's _fun_, Sam; you should try it!"

"I won't do it!"

"Why the hell not? Come on, Sam, if you've ever trusted me before, trust me on this; it's really fun!"

"I'm sorry, Max. I won't."

The rabbit frowned heavily.

"I can't kill without a reason."

That seemed to spark an idea in the rabbit's head, but it almost seemed as if he pushed it aside. "Then come up with a reason."

"I can't _make up_ a reason."

"Sure you can!"

"It's not that easy."

"Isn't it?"

"It isn't."

"Well, it's that easy for _me_."

"That's because you like doing it."

"That's true."

Sam sighed a bit.

"If it makes you feel any better, Sam, I left Geek alive."

"That's good."

"I figured she could still build cool stuff for us."

"Yeah."

Max smiled. "She's in the Basement of Solitude right now. I wonder if she's making anything."

"Well, let's go see."

Max walked out of the room. "Let's go, Sam!"

Sam nodded and followed Max.

Soon they made it to their old office. "Now where did that lever to open the wall up go to..."

"Wasn't it somewhere by the desk?"

Max searched. "Ah ha!" The wall opened up and Max threw himself onto the pole, sliding down.

Sam jumped onto the pole and slid after him.

After a few moments of sliding, they practically _flew_ into the Basement of Solitude.

Sam ended up crashing into the wall.

Max clapped. "Somehow you went farther than I did, Sam! That was fun!"

"It wasn't fun for my head..." Sam groaned as he stood shakily.

Max walked around the basement. "Hey... Geek is _hiding_, Sam! Isn't that _cute_?"

"She's probably scared of you."

"Oh, _GEE~EEK_!" He roared, trying to scare her out of hiding.

He heard an "Eep!" in the closet.

Max ripped the closet doors open. "_Found you~_!"

Geek yelped in fear and cowered.

"Come on outta there... before I _rip_ you out with a pair of over-sized tweezers. Possibly with flamethrowers attached." He looked at Sam. "Sam, write that down. I like that idea."

Sam looked disturbed as Geek meekly came out of the closet.

"What were you doing _hiding_, Geek? You should be working on new, fancy, dangerous gadgets for me and Sam to use!" The rabbit looked only mildly annoyed.

"S-sorry, Max, sir!" she whimpered.

"Get back to work." He said casually with his shark-toothed grin showing.

She quickly started working.

Max looked at Sam. "She's too good to us, Sam."

"Max, she's _terrified_ of you." Sam said.

"I know! It's cool, isn't it? She'll do whatever I say!"

"She's scared of you hurting her again."

"And I just might if she stops obeying me." As he said this, he became grimly serious, his grin disappearing. A few seconds after, though, his grin returned.

Geek saw this and worked harder.

Max giggled a bit. "This is great, Sam."

"I don't think so."

Max gave him a strange look. "What's wrong, Sam? Why don't you think this is great?"

"She should be happy to help us with her gadgets, not be scared and depressed."

"So?" The lagomorph sounded genuinely confused, as if he didn't feel anything for Geek at all, especially not remorse for his own actions against her.

"You changed for the worse ever since you gained full use of your powers, Max."

"For the _worse_? Don't you mean for the _better_?"

"I don't."

Max's grin disappeared, and he looks unamused. "Hah hah, _very_ funny, Sam."

"I'm not joking."

Max growled a little at him. "Whatever, Sam."

Geek slowed down a bit to watch them.

The lagomorph crossed his arms and looked away from Sam, looking mighty ticked off. Luckily for Geek, he didn't seem to notice that she'd slowed down.

She was surprised Sam was standing up to Max.

It seemed that Max didn't have any comeback against Sam, so instead he brought his psychotic little gaze down on Geek. "What the hell are you _staring_ at?!" He snapped.

Geek shrieked and got back to work.  
>"That's <em>enough<em>, Max!" Sam yelled at him.

"_Why_, when I get _my way_, do you suddenly _attack_ me like this, Sam?!"

"Someone needs to keep you in line!"

"You're saying I'm not in line?! I am _perfectly_ in line, Sam! What's your idea of '_in line_'; sitting around _bored_ outta yer _goddamned skull_?! I couldn't take that!"

"It's better than needlessly killing people!"

"Get out, Sam. Get out of here. Or would you fancy a trip into another dimension?" The rabbit snarled.

"I'll be _glad_ to leave!" Sam stormed out.

Max stood there for a moment before running after Sam almost instinctively. "Actually, Sam!" He called after him. "I am curious to see where you end up if I teleport you somewhere random!"

Sam took out his gun and pointed it at Max. "Stay away from me."

"You won't shoot me, Sam. Besides, I don't even think I need your permission or anything to teleport you. I'll give you 5 seconds before I send you somewhere. Make them count." Slowly, the rabbit started to count. "One."

Sam cocked his gun.

"_Five_!" Max skipped to the last number with a grin, and suddenly, Sam found himself someplace else.

"Dammit, Max!" he grumbled.

He actually saw the rabbit sitting on the sidewalk nearby.

Sam stomped over to him.

The hyperkinetic rabbity thing didn't really respond. He was holding Sam's hat, and had the dog's tie tied around his left ear, the largest 'flap' of it covering his left eye.

"This isn't funny, Max. Send me back."

"You know... I... I had a good friend _once_..." The rabbit didn't look at Sam as he stuttered the brief story, possibly not even meant to be heard by him. "... I... I should try to... to _find_ them... I _miss_ them..."

"What the hell are you talking about, Max?"

Max put Sam's hat on, causing his ears to have to fold back. "I'm lonely, but I... _like_ to be alone..." He said in a broken voice as he pulled his knees closer to himself.

Sam knelt down next to him. "Max?"

Still, the lagomorph didn't turn to look at him, and the tie covering his left eye didn't allow him to see out of the corner of his eye.  
>"You sound... <em>familiar<em>..." The rabbit gave a tiny, crooked smile at these words, but then the smile faded and was replaced with a frown.

Sam moved the tie. "That's because I'm Sam."

Max froze up for a moment. He then lethargically reached up and pulled the tie off of his ear. He gripped either end in his hands, and then he leaped at Sam and tackled him down, pressing the tie down against his throat with tears in his weary brown eyes.  
>"I don't know who you are or why you're pretending to be Sam, but you'd better <em>knock it the hell off<em> **_RIGHT NOW_**!" The rabbit sounded both threatening and emotionally crushed.

Sam choked. "I really _am_ Sam!"

"You're _not_ Sam! Sam..." The tears overflowed, and while the rabbit kept trying to choke the 'impostor' out, his grip ended up growing weak. "_Sam's_... _dead_..."


	7. Fear in Relation to Control

"Wh-_what_? I'm _dead_?"

Max covered his eyes, soaking the tie with his tears. "God, it's all my fault...! I miss him so much... I didn't mean to... _to_... It's all my fault..!"

"What did you do?"

"I... I... I couldn't... I couldn't control my p-_powers_, and... _and_..." Max started bawling against Sam's chest. "I'm sorry! God, I'm _so sorry_!"

Sam gently held him.

The rabbit continued to cry, trembling. Gently and hesitantly, he held Sam back. "I've done _horrible_ things..."

Sam gently pat his back.

Soon, Max started to relax a bit. He sniffled and rubbed at his eyes with dirty hands, the tips of his fingers looking to be stained a little red. "I get it... I must'a finally lost it, now I'm _seeing things_... _That's_ why you're here..."

"Actually, I'm _real_. I'm from another dimension where the you _I know_ sent me here."

"Now I _really_ know I've lost it..." The rabbit's ears perked up at the sound of a woman crying out for help in an alley. He picked up the hat from this world's Sam and slicked his ears back again to put it on. "Stay here, or... disappear... Do whatever you hallucinations do. I'm going to go deal with that scream."

"I'll help you."

Max gestured for him to leave, but Sam felt compelled to at least watch over the rabbit for the time being. Max stood and walked into the alley.  
>"Hey, you." He called out somewhat timidly.<br>"What do you want, shorty?!" Shouted a man with a knife who was going to mug and rob the woman who he had trapped before him.  
>"Put the knife down and back away from that woman."<br>"And if I don't?"  
>"I'll... I'll call the cops."<br>The man laughed at such a petty threat.  
>Max walked closer to him, as if trying to get closer to start a more compelling conversation, and in response the man grabbed the rabbit by the neck, threatening to cut him.<br>"You're so short and light. You'd make a nice _throw rug_."

Sam was glad the punk wasn't paying attention to him, which allowed him to cock his gun and place the barrel against the guy's head. "Drop the rabbit."

"Whoa, man, I was just kidding..." The man dropped Max and the knife roughly.  
>Typically, Max would've grabbed the knife and stabbed the man with it somewhere, but instead he seemed to force his eyes away from it as he just sort of watched the man.<p>

"Now get out. If I see you pull a stunt like this again, I'll blow your brains out."

That last part seemed to make Max a little nervous and twitchy as the crooked smile returned to his face. Hesitantly, the man fled.  
>"Thank you so much." The woman said.<p>

"You're welcome, ma'am." Sam smiled as he put the gun away.

Max picked up the knife, gazing at the woman, who seemed unnerved by his now-near-lifeless gaze.

"Max, what are you doing?"

"S-_Sam_..." The rabbit looked pained as he tightened his grip on the knife, as if he were trying to let it go.  
>The woman backed away a bit, now looking afraid of the mentally-fractured lagomorph.<p>

Sam made him let the knife go.

The woman had hurried off at this point.  
>"Sorry... I... I don't know what happens to me sometimes. I just... Something sets me off, and I just can't help myself and I... I usually <em>hurt<em> people, Sam. I've _hurt_ so many people."

"I think from the moment you gained full use of your powers, they began to control you."

"I don't want to hurt anyone _else_, Sam... I never wanted to really hurt _anyone_..."

"I know, buddy. I know." Sam said as he hugged the rabbit.

Max hugged back, trembling a little as he did so.

"I'm here for you, buddy."

Max watched in silent horror as the knife floated up and aimed itself at Sam's back.  
>"... S-<em>Sam<em>...?"

"What's wrong, Max?"

"B-behi-..." The rabbit could tell that his telekinesis was about to launch it towards its target, and his eyes widened. "**_MOVE, SAM_**!"

Sam quickly looked over his shoulder, then ducked; pulling Max down too.

The knife soared over them, and Max seemed shaken up and scared. "I'm losing control again...!"

"You've got to get a hold of it!"

"I-I don't know _how_...!" Max curled up into a little ball, presumably trying to fight back against his powers.

"Have faith in yourself! Don't give into the fear of losing control! Don't be afraid!"

Max tried to relax and be confident in his ability to control his powers, when suddenly a nearby trash bin ignited. The rabbit's eyes widened as he stared at the flames that he'd unintentionally created, and he nearly screamed at the sight of them.

"_Don't be afraid_!"

"_Not the fire_! _**Anything** but the **fire**_!" Max used the brim of that universe's Sam's hat to shield his eyes.

"Max, don't give into the fear! Stand up to it!"

"I can stand up to _anything_ but the _fire_!" Max trembled wildly and shook his head. "B-because I... I accidentally _set you on fire_ before...!"

"Is that how the me from here died?"

Max nodded feverishly.

"I'm _here_ now. You can _beat_ this power and fear."

Max then shook his head with equal feverish-ness. "No, Sam, I can't... I'm too destructive by nature..." The little rabbit then hurried over to Sam and clung to his suit jacket. "Turn me in, Sam! Take me to the cops! I deserve to be in prison like the rest of my family members!"

"I could never turn in my best buddy." Sam said as he hugged him.

"Everyone in my family's a psychopath... I was _stupid_ to think I could live normally...!"

"But you _can_, Max."

"I _can't_, though! Not without hurting everyone I care about and others!"

"Buddy, I can _help_ you."

Max looked at him slowly.

"Max, we're _friends_. That's normal."

"I _killed_ you before... Hell, I nearly killed you _again_ just a minute ago...!" Max frowned.

"Yeah, but you _warned_ me. You had some control over it."

"_That_ was a first..."

"Yes, it was. You took the first step towards having full control of your powers."

"Pretty lame for a first step..." Max said with a faint shadow of a smile on his face. After a moment, the rabbit's stomach grumbled. "Igh... Damn, guess I'm-" The lagomorph watched as the fire went out, seeming to get an idea from that. "That's _it_, Sam! I just have to be too weak to use my powers!"

"But you need to eat."

"I'd rather starve than run the risk of killing you again, Sam."

"But you would die and I don't want that."

"I'll eat a little if I get to that point. Just _a little_, though."

"Alright, Max."

Max smiled a little. "I'm happy I won't have to deal with my powers now."

"Yeah."

"I'm also glad to have you back... I really missed you, Sam..."

Sam smiled and hugged him.

Max hugged him back.

"I missed you too."

"Let's go back _home_, Sam." The dirty rabbit who looked like he'd been through hell and back let go of Sam and started to walk.

Sam walked with him.


	8. Stubborn Exhaustion

Soon, Sam and Max made it back home.  
>It seemed like the rabbit was not just starving, but <em>exhausted<em> as well, as he was beginning to drag his feet and slouch with a tired facial expression.

"You should go get some sleep."

"I'm fine, Sam..."

"But you look so tired."

"_Sam_..." Max gave Sam a serious look, as if trying to make it clear that physical exhaustion was what he wanted.

Sam sighed. "Fine."

Max smiled just a little as he stepped into the house.

Sam walked in with him.

"House is just the same as I remember it..."

"Yeah."

Max shivered for a second as he held in a yawn, then he looked at Sam. "What now...?"

"Don't know."

Max looked away. "... I haven't been here for a while... I left everything as it was before you died..."

"Hey, don't dwell on the past. I'm here now."

"I'm sorry, Sam..." Max wrapped his arms around Sam's leg in an awkward 'embrace'. "I can't help it..."

Sam gently pat the rabbit's head. "It's alright. I understand."

The lagomorph actually let out some sort of purr. He felt more than safe now that he was in Sam's company, and it seemed he was starting to unwittingly fall asleep holding the dog's leg.

Sam smiled and continued to pet his head.

Soon enough, Max had fallen into a moderately peaceful-looking sleep.

Sam gently picked him up and carried him to the bedroom.

Max seemed to force himself awake. "_Sam_?" He asked, trying to sound awake.

"Shh. You're alright, Max. I've got you." Sam said in a soft voice and gently pet his head.

"I don't want to sleep, Sam..."

"You need to sleep at least a little bit."

"Why? If I do, then I might lose control of my powers again."

"It'll be okay."

Max shook his head, still seeming scared. "No. No, it _won't_ be, Sam."

Sam sighed.

The rabbit jumped out of Sam's arms, his legs nearly giving out as he landed. "I'm _fine_ right now, Sam..."

"If you're sure."

"... What about you? Do you need anything?"

"I'm alright, Max."

"Well... Just... Just tell me if you need anything."

"I will, Max."

The rabbit smiled a bit and then started to pace around the house.

Sam watched him.

He started to look more and more worn out.

"You really should sleep."

"I'm fine, Sam..."

"But, Max..."

"I-I'm _fine_..."

"Alright."

After a few minutes, Sam heard Max collapse.

Sam quickly got up and ran to his side.

Max was trying to get back up. "I-I'm okay, Sam...! I just... tr-_tripped_..."

Sam helped him up. "You tripped because you're overtired."

The rabbit ignored the comment and tried to keep pacing around.

"Max, you _need_ sleep."

"Sam, if I go to sleep, I'll _kill_ you after I wake up. I just _know_ I will. I don't _want_ that to happen..."

"But then you could die."

"I'd rather kill myself than kill you again..."

"_Max_..."

Tears in his beady brown eyes, Max looked at Sam.

Sam gently hugged the rabbit. "I don't want to lose you."

Max hugged him back. "It was _so_ horrible, Sam... Being _alone_ with that _guilt_..."

"I would bet."

"Everyone hates me now..."

"_I_ don't hate you."

Max hugged him a little tighter.

"You care more about me than my world's Max. He's the one who sent me here."

"Maybe I care more because I've had time to grow up a little and see how much you mean to me..."

Sam hugged him a bit tighter.

"I just can't take the risk of losing you again, Sam..."

"I _know_, Max."

"So th-that's wh-_why_..." Max trailed off, seeming to grow weak quickly.

"Max?"

"I-I don't _feel_ so good, Sam..." It seemed like Max was struggling to stay awake.

"You made yourself sick by starving and exhausting yourself."

Max moaned quietly.

"_Please_, Max. You _have_ to _rest_."

He tried to refuse, but ended up blacking out trying to shake his head.

Sam gently carried him to the bed and laid him down.

The lagomorph trembled weakly.

Sam gently covered him with a blanket.

Max snuggled into it.

Sam smiled and watched over him.

The battered rabbit tossed and turned.

Sam gently pet his head.

Max groaned a bit.

"Poor Max..."

He continued to sleep uncomfortably.

Sam felt his head.

It was hot.

Sam's ears drooped.

Max turned over again.

Sam got up and went to the bathroom; picking up a washcloth. He ran it under some cool water and wrung it out before gently placing it on Max's forehead.

The lagomorph relaxed just a little.

Sam then sat back down and watched over him until he, too, fell asleep.


	9. Nidicolous Lagomorph(s)

Sam awoke to find himself in the hospital, having slipped out of the dream.

He looked around for Max.

The rabbit was still beside him. "Sam! Good, you're awake."

"How long was I sleeping?"

"An hour or so."

"So all that was a dream?"

"Whatever you're talking about, yeah, probably."

"Oh, _good_."

"Was it _that_ bad, Sam?"

"Yes, it was." Sam replied as he began to tell his friend about it.

Max fell silent, as if Sam were talking of one of his fears.

"It scared _me_, too."

Max seemed a bit awkward all of the sudden.

"Max?"

"Yeah, Sam?"

"Are you alright?"

"... Yeah. I'm fine."

"Alright, if you say so."

"I'm bored again, Sam."

"Maybe you could go make birds explode."

Max grinned. "I could try."

"Alright."

Max got off of his chair and hurried over to the window.

Sam watched him.

"Ooh! There's a whole nest of birds in a tree over there!"

"Don't do it to them. That's a family."

Max's grin disappeared at the mention of the word '_family_.'

"Max?"

"Is... Is _family_ a real word, Sam?"

"Yes it is, Max."

"Doesn't _sound_ like one..."

"I didn't mean to reopen an old wound for you, Max."

Max shuddered a little and got down from the window, going back to the chair, where he shuddered again.

"Max? Are you alright?"

Quietly, Max nodded, though he shuddered again briefly.

"You never really _had_ a family, did you?"

The hyperkinetic rabbity thing shook his head slowly.

"Wish I could show you how it feels to be in one." Sam said, not noticing a pair of beady eyes watching them.

Max noticed, however. "... Sam. Sam, turn around." He said, making eye contact with what was watching them.

Sam turned his head and looked. There standing was a little rabbit that kinda looked like Max but with a black spot on their ear.

Max narrowed his own beady eyes at the rabbit, somewhat confused. He said nothing.

"C-can I stay with you guys..?" the rabbit asked in a small, female voice.

Max looked at Sam, as Sam was typically the one to make the choices for the two of them.

"Sure." Sam smiled.

Max shot Sam a strange look.

Then he noticed how messy the little rabbit looked and how she looked like she hadn't eaten in weeks.

"... Kid... Where'd you come from?" Max asked, almost sounding a little shy.

"A-an alley. My parents dumped me there weeks ago."

"What? They _ditched you in an alley_?" Max looked at Sam and scoffed. "Parents these days."

"It's because I can do this." She cupped her little hands as a ice crystal formed in them.

Max's jaw dropped open a little, revealing his sharp teeth to the girl. "You have powers _too_?"

"You have powers too, Mister?" she asked.

"I _do_. I've unlocked _all_ of my powers, too." Max created a small ball of fire, holding it in the air with his telekinesis.

"Oh _wow_!" the little rabbit watched in awe and smiled.

Max made the ball dissipate, and he grinned at the girl with his shark-like teeth. He looked crazy by nature in that moment, and the girl noticed that what she had thought were patches of burgundy fur were actually blood caking his white fur.

"That's so _cool_!" she smiled more, showing she has sharp teeth too.

He seemed startled by her teeth for a moment, but then he shook it off, thinking that the only logical explanation was that his family wasn't the only line of rabbits to have sharp teeth.

The small rabbit giggled as she hugged Max. "Finally there's someone like me!" she cheered.

Max looked at Sam again before he timidly half-hugged her back.

"Looks like it was a good thing to take her in." Sam smiled.

Max almost looked worried about something as he averted his eyes.

"Is something wrong, Mister?" the little rabbit asked.

Max didn't respond to her as he looked back at Sam. "Sam, we've got trouble headed this way."

"Them again?" Sam asked.

Max nodded. "I... I could deal with them again if you want."

"Yeah, you can."

Max started to giggle crazily as more screams were heard outside. "This is fun."

"Are those mean men out there?" the little rabbit asked.

"Oh, don't worry. They're all dead now." Max said before breaking into a fit of insane laughter.

The rabbit girl didn't seem fazed by this.

Max looked at Sam with a crazed expression.

Sam was a bit weirded out by that.

Max noticed and forced himself to relax a little. "Sorry."

"It's alright, Max." he said.

"Do you think we should get a move on, Sam? Or do you need to stay here a bit longer?" Max asked.

"I think I can go now."

Max looked back at the rabbit girl briefly. "Then let's get out of here while everyone's so focused on what happened outside."

Sam got up and picked up the rabbit girl.

Max hurried and opened the door, but then he froze up. He shook a bit, then looked at Sam. "Sam, I feel weird."

"Weird how?"

"It's... hard to explain." Max shook his head. "I must be imagining it... Let's just get going."

"Alright."

Max hurried out.

Sam followed him with the girl.

Soon enough, a nurse or two had shown up to object that Sam couldn't possibly be ready to leave yet. Max scowled at them, and shortly after, they combusted.  
>Max grinned. "Wow, Sam! Looks really <em>can<em> kill!"

"It seems so."

As they hurried to leave the hospital, Max kept setting random people ablaze and causing further chaos.

Sam hurried out with him.

Max giggled as they stepped outside and saw the destruction he'd caused.

The rabbit girl hid her face from it.

Max seemed confused by her reaction. "Hey, what's wrong?" He asked her.

"That's _scary_! They're all _dead_!" she cried.

"I know! Isn't it _great_?"

She cried more.

"... Sam, why do you think she's crying?"

"Not everyone likes to see death like you do, Max. It scares her."

Max fell silent.

"It reminds me of when I accidentally killed my neighbors!" she bawled.

Max couldn't seem to find any sympathy to return in response, so instead he kept his mouth shut and kept walking.

Sam sighed and tried to comfort the girl.

Max kept glancing back at them every so often, but didn't have the slightest idea of what to do for the girl.

The girl sniffled a bit.

"I'm... _sorry_...?" Max muttered under his breath while looking away.

The rabbit girl hugged him. "Thank you, Mr. Max."

Max seemed just a tad flustered. It almost seemed, for a second to Sam, that Max was going to hurt her, perhaps for startling him, yet the rabbit forced himself not to do it.

She then snuggled into him.

Max's eye twitched. It looked now as though Max was unable to hold himself back and was inches from hurting her.

She looked at him with her beady eyes. "Mr. Max, are you _okay_?"

Max looked at Sam and nearly growled. "Sam, something's _wrong_ with me. Get this girl off of me before I _hurt_ her."


	10. It's Always a Nightmare, Huh?

The girl looked confused as Sam made her get off of Max.

Max shuddered a little.

"You _okay_ now, Max?"

Max shook his head. "Something's really wrong with me, Sam."

"Any idea what's wrong?"

He shook his head again. The end of Sam's tie slowly ignited.

Sam yelped and quickly put the fire out on his tie.

Max looked over. "Sam? What's wrong?"

"You just lit my tie on fire!"

"What? No, I didn't. ... Did I?" Max looked a little concerned.

"Yeah, you _did_." Sam said as he showed Max his tie.

"I... I _swear_ I didn't do that on purpose, Sam. I didn't even _think_ about doing that." After Max said this, Sam faintly remembered that the tie the Max from his dream had was also burnt at the end.

Sam gulped a bit.

"Sam, why are you giving me that scared look...?" Max asked in a tiny voice.

Sam shook it off. "Never mind it, Max."

Max looked worried. "... You know, I don't think I should walk so far ahead." He muttered before walking back so that Sam would be leading the way.

Sam sighed and continued to walk.

Max stayed quiet and stared at his feet as he followed.

The rabbit girl looked back at Max.

Max didn't notice.

The rabbit girl jumped out of Sam's arms and started to walk off.

"Hey, where are you going?" Max asked as he looked at her.

"I'm causing problems for you guys..."

"No, you aren't. Something's up with me right now, that's all."

"It _is_ me. This _always_ happens when I'm near someone like me with powers..."

"That doesn't make any sense to me." Max said before he tried to read her mind to find out what she was really thinking.

In her mind he saw she was telling the truth for he saw images of others with powers lose control over them when she was around.

"But... You don't have anywhere else to stay."

"But you might hurt your friend if I stay..."

"I... I'd _never_ hurt _Sam_."

"You lit his tie on fire."

"Maybe I did, but I'd never _hurt_ him."

"I'll stay if you're sure."

"You don't have anywhere else to stay. Even if I wasn't sure, I'm certain that Sam would talk me into it. Right, Sam?"

"That's right, Max." Sam replied.

"See? So stay with us."

"Okay." she smiled.

Max turned back to Sam. "So where to, Sam?"

"Well, we need to find shelter somewhere."

"... Say, should we just return home? I mean, wouldn't they expect us to run off and hide someplace else?"

"That's a good point. Alright, we'll head there."

Max started to half-lead the way and half-wander about.

The rabbit girl walked along side of him.

Max grinned a little at her.

She giggled and smiled back at him.

She noticed the rabbit looked exhausted as if he hadn't slept in a while.

"You look like you need a nap." she said.

"Nah, I'm alright."

"You really should take a nap. I could nap with you if you want."

Max's ears stood straight up for a moment and he seemed shocked by such an offer.

"You okay, Mr. Max?"

"No one's ever asked to sleep_ with_ me before."

"Really?"

Max shook his head. "You really wouldn't mind sleeping with me?"

"Really." she smiled.

Max smiled back at her. Soon they arrived at the house.

"Wow! It's big!"

Max hurried inside, excited to be home.

The rabbit girl ran inside too.

"Just the way we left it, Sam! I'm not even sure if anyone's been here!" Max said to Sam.

"It seems so, Max." Sam replied.

Max then seemed to grow serious. He looked back at the girl. "Uh, if you want, I can lead you to the bedroom."

"Okay." she said.

Max took her to the bedroom. "Sleep on either bunk."

She picked the bottom bunk.

Max smiled just a little.

"You wanna nap too?"

Max shook his head a bit. "I have something I wanna ask Sam first."

"Okay, Mr. Max."

Max stepped out of the bedroom.

Sam was looking through things at his desk.

"... Sam...?"

Sam looked at him. "Yeah?"

"What are you looking for...?"

"Just making sure no one found my candy stash. Damn it!" he cursed as he revealed it was in the desk.

"... Sam, I... I have to ask about something."

"Yeah, Max?"

"When I accidentally lit your tie on fire... You... You looked _terrified_ of me, Sam."

"I'm sorry, Max. It reminded me of my nightmare."

"... You trust me when I say I would never hurt you, right...?"

"I do."

Max hurried over and hugged Sam. "Sam, I'm a little scared..."

"We'll get through this."

"I hope so..."

Sam hugged him.

Max hugged him back a little tighter.

"We'll get through this, little buddy."

"I'll trust you, Sam..."

"And I trust you."

Max smiled.

Sam smiled.

"I love you, Sam." Max said, though he only knew half of the definition for the word '_love_'.

"Love you too, buddy."

Max grinned his typical grin.

Sam smiled back. "Go get some sleep. You need it."

"What are you gonna do, Sam?"

"I might get some sleep too."

"Alright. I'll go try to sleep..." Max said.

"Okay, Max."

Max returned to the bedroom.

The girl was sleeping, all curled up in a ball.

"..." Max tried to read her mind to see if she was dreaming about anything.

She was having a bad dream where her parents left her.

Max hesitantly went over and tried to shake her awake.

She awoke with a yelp.

"Hey, relax. You were having a nightmare." Max said.

"I _always_ have nightmares..." she whimpered.

Max frowned a little, but didn't know what to say.

"I have no hopes or dreams to dream about anymore..."

"That can't be true. You're just thinking too much about the bad things that have happened."

"You really think so?"

Max nodded. "I've done a ton of horrible things, and on top of it all, I lost _my_ parents too. Trust me, it'll get better."

"How did you lose your parents?"

Max shrugged. "My father was arrested and my mother was taken to an asylum. See, my family line has this history of being psychotic, deranged criminals."

"So they were _coo-coo_?"

The hyperkinetic rabbity thing nodded. "Sometimes people say that I'm crazy too because it's... uh, what word do they use... '_hereditary_' or something weird like that. I dunno what that means exactly, but I don't _THINK_ I'm crazy..."

"I don't think you're crazy either."

"Really? I think even Sam would beg to differ."

"I'm sure he doesn't mean it."

Max smiled a little. "I wouldn't mind either way. Sam's really the only '_family_' I have now. Even if he thought I was _completely_ crazy, as long as he still thought of me as his best buddy, I'd still be a _little_ sane."

"Can I be part of your family too?"

Max shrugged again. "I... I guess...?"

She giggled happily and hugged him. "Thank you so much!"

He awkwardly hugged her back. "You're welcome...?"

She giggled more and snuggled into him.

Max quietly let her do so, not knowing how to respond to such affection, especially not from a girl.

"I can be your little sister." she smiled.

"I guess that's alright."

She giggled more as she yawned.

Max sat her back on the bed. "Get some rest."

"Could you sleep with me?" she asked with big cute beady eyes.

"If you want." Max sat next to her.

She smiled and moved over so he could lay down.

Max did so, though he faintly trembled as if he were nervous of sleeping next to someone.

She yawned again as she slowly fell asleep.

Max started to gradually doze off as well.

She started to sleep peacefully.

Max, on the other hand, started to slip into a nightmare.

She didn't notice.

In his nightmare, Max looked around for Sam, but couldn't seem to find him, or _anyone_ for that matter, _anywhere_. "Sam...?"

He heard someone limping.

He turned toward the direction of the sound.

He saw a very bloody Sam.

"Sam...?! Sam, what _happened_?!" Max hurried over.

"S-stay away from me!" Sam yelled as he shakily raised his gun.

Max jumped a bit. "S-Sam, what are you doing? Don't shoot me, just tell me who did this to you!"

"_You're_ the one who did this!" he growled as he cocked the gun.

"Wh-what...? Sam, what happened, _really_? You're hurt bad!"

"You used your powers on me!"

"Why would I do that?" Max asked, looking horrified.

"You blamed me for the girl getting killed!"

Max froze up. "She... She's... _dead_...? What happened to her...?"

"They found us again and killed her!"

"W-we couldn't save her...?"

"They _shot her in the head_!"

"... Why would I _blame you_ for that, Sam...?"

"You left to blow up some birds and came back to find her dead!"

"... But... But where did the soldiers go...?"

"To search for _you_!"

Max clutched his head, trying not to cry. "S-Sam, I don't remember _any_ of this..."

"You still did it and now I'll _finish_ this." Sam cocked the gun again.

"Sam, please, don't _do_ this!" Max took a step back, arms out in front of him as a sign of surrender.

Just as Sam pulled the trigger, Max woke up with a start.


	11. I Remember Now

Max quickly looked to see if the girl was still there with him.

She was all curled up next to him with a smile on her face.

He climbed out of the bed, careful not to wake her, and he looked to see if Sam was asleep in the top bunk or not.

Sam was there sleeping with his mouth open.

Trembling intensely from fear of his nightmare, Max quietly climbed up onto the top bunk and managed to snuggle in next to Sam.

Sam rolled over and hugged Max in his sleep.

Max curled up in his hold, feeling a little less scared now.

Sam snuggled him a bit.

Regardless of the slight comfort he was receiving, Max started to cry a little.

Sam woke up a bit. "Max...?"

Max sniffled. "Sorry for waking you, Sam..."

"It's alright, Max. What's wrong?"

"I-I had a horrible nightmare..."

"It must've been bad if you're scared."

"You were hurt badly and you pointed your gun at me because apparently I had attacked you with my powers after I returned to find that the girl we met had been shot in the head..." Max explained quickly, holding back sobs. "A-and then you _shot_ me..."

Sam's face paled as his eyes widened. "Max, I would _never_ shoot you. True, I did threaten to before, but I would never go through with it."

Max clung to Sam. "E-even if I hurt you, Sam...?"

"Even if you hurt me, I wouldn't shoot you."

Max shrugged a bit. "I think I'd want you to shoot me if I hurt you... If I ever hurt you then we'd know for sure that I'd have gone completely insane..."

"You sure, Max?"

Max nodded. "I can't bear the thought of hurting you, Sam..."

"Same here, buddy."

Max snuggled against Sam a bit more. "Is it alright if I sleep in this bunk with you tonight, Sam...?"

"Sure, buddy."

Max smiled just a little.

Sam smiled and laid down with him.

"Goodnight, Sam..."

"Goodnight, Max."

Max started to fall asleep again.

Sam fell asleep too.

* * *

><p>A few hours passed...<p>

The little rabbit girl woke up a bit.

Max was still asleep in the top bunk.

She got up and decided to explore the house.

There was a ton of strange things lying around.

She looked at one of them.

It appeared to be some sort of strange, un-fueled flamethrower.

She put it back and looked around some more.

She saw tons of pictures of Sam and Max on a desk, some from when they were younger.

She hopped onto the desk and looked at them.

A couple of them showed them as kids, revealing to her that they'd been friends since early childhood.

She smiled as she looked through some more.

One of the pictures showed the two of them posed in front of a door which said on its window, "Sam & Max | Freelance Police".

She gasped. "These two are _the_ Sam and Max of the Freelance Police? Sweet!"

"We aren't Freelance Police anymore..." said Max's voice from behind her.

She gasped and looked behind her. "Why not?"

Max stood there. He stepped closer with his awkward walk, his feet lifted high and spread apart with each step. "I don't remember what I did, but I guess I did something that got Sam and I into big trouble. All I remember is attacking Geek, but then there's this giant blank gap in my memory."

"Oh man..."

"Sam was pretty pissed at me about it too. Almost threatened to shoot me."

"Yikes."

"I wish I could remember what it was that I did..."

"Hmm... Maybe your powers could help with that."

Max furrowed his brow. "Are you asking me to read my own mind?"

"Kinda. I mean like using me to project it."

"You mean you want me to try showing you the blank gap?"

"Yeah."

"I... I don't know how, but I can try..."

"Hope this works."

Max tried to show her what he couldn't remember.

She cried out as the images were projected through her eyes.

She was seeing through Max's point of view, watching him do many horrible, violent things.  
>"Hey, what... What do you see?"<p>

"You're killing mobs of people! Ripping them apart!" she cried in horror.

As she saw and told, it seemed to allow him to see what had happened, as he started to look a tad disturbed. "What else?"

"You're setting children on fire and blowing up their families! No! Don't hurt that lady that looks like Mr. Sam!_ No!_ _You ripped her heart out!_" she bawled.

"_Sam_... Where's Sam? Do you see him?" Max asked.

"Yes, he's there! He's sobbing!"

"Is... Is he hurt? Am I hurting him, or _have_ I hurt him or...?" Sam's well-being seemed to be Max's only concern.

"He's sobbing by the lady that looks like him!"

Max cut the connection between the girl and himself so she wouldn't have to see anymore.

She slumped to her knees as she trembled and sobbed.

Max looked at the hand in which he'd held the heart of the woman that looked like Sam. He then hurried back into the bedroom and checked to see if Sam was still asleep or not.

Sam was still snoring away.

Though he promised himself he'd never read Sam's mind, Max proceeded to break that promise. He tried to figure out what had happened there in Sam's view, why he'd lost his mind, and if he'd hurt Sam before or after.

He saw that he did hurt Sam really bad after killing that lady.

He tried to see what had sent him into his fit and whether or not he'd hurt Sam prior to killing the lady.

Sam was injured after the lady but Max noticed something was on him that looked like some kind of device.

Max tried to see if Sam had been able to get a better look at it.

It looked like a mechanical spider.

Max stopped reading Sam's mind and narrowed his eyes, now pondering upon the mechanical spider.

It looked kinda familiar.

Yet he couldn't figure out why.

Then he remembered that the chief had it.

Max put a hand on his head, getting a headache trying to remember that far back.

_Maybe the whole thing was a setup._

Still, Max had hurt Sam bad. He climbed back up onto the top bunk and tried to wake Sam up.

Sam slowly woke up. "H-huh..?"

"S-Sam..." Max couldn't help but cry a little.

"Max, what's wrong?"

"I-I... I know what I did... before..."

Sam quickly sat up. "You do?"

Max nodded.

Sam hugged him.

"I can't believe I hurt you, Sam..."

"It's in the past, Max."

"Sam, why'd I do all of that...?"

"Wish I knew, little buddy."

"I... Sam, there... There was a woman..."

Sam was silent.

"You looked really crushed when I ripped her heart out, and after I did that, I hurt you pretty bad..." As Max said this, he resumed staring at the hand in which he'd held the heart of the woman the looked like Sam.

"She was my girlfriend..." Sam said softly.

Max seemed to freeze up a bit. "... Girlfriend...?" He narrowed his eyes as if he'd never heard the term.

Sam explained what a girlfriend was.

Max narrowed his beady eyes more. "Looks like I saved you from a lot of trouble then." He said in a rather heartless tone as he jumped off of the bunk bed. "I have to go ask Geek some questions." He sounded cold as he said this, as if something about Sam having had a girlfriend had stung him.

Sam's ears drooped as he looked down.

Max looked back at him. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing... Go."

"I think you're _lying_ to me, Sam." Max stated before he started trying to read Sam's mind to figure out what he was hiding.

Sam blocked his mind. "You promised you would never do that to me."

"How do you think I know about how I hurt you, Sam? At least now I know why I did." He nearly snarled the last part.

Sam shook his head. "This is why I didn't tell you what you did. The truth changed you."

"The _hell_ it did!" Max shouted. It actually sort of looked like he was going to cry. "I'm going to go ask Geek if she knows anything about that mechanical spider, and I'll _kill_ whoever gets in my damned way!"

"Mechanical spider? That's what I saw on you?"

"I don't friggin' know! It kinda looked like a spider, but hell if I know what it really is or why it was on me like that!"

Sam jumped from his tone.

What remained of Max's composure broke, and he ran out of the room crying.

Sam reached out for him before sighing and letting his hand fall.


	12. The Realization

Max ran past the girl, and out of the house.

The girl followed him. "Mr. Max, what's wrong?" she called out.

Max gradually slowed down, crying a little harder now that he was out of Sam's view.

"Mr. Max?"

Max sniffled. "It's nothing. Sam and I just had a bit of an argument... Just go back into th-..." Max thought about his nightmare. "Uh, actually... Do you want to come with me? I have to go back to the hospital to ask Geek a few questions..."

"Okay." she smiled.

Max headed to the hospital with her.

Geek was in bed typing on her laptop.

Max knocked on the door. "Geek...?"

She gasped and shut her laptop. "Get out before I call security!" she cried.

"Wait! I'm not here to hurt you again!" Max put his hands up awkwardly to show surrender.

"Then what do you want?"

"I need to ask you why I went on a rampage and if you know anything about a mechanical spider."

"Of course I know about the spider. I built it for the chief but he didn't tell me why he wanted it."

"... Th-this spider... What did it do, exactly?"

"Well, it's used to... control someone. That bastard used it on you!" she gasped.

"It was all a setup..." Max started panicking a little. "I have to go tell Sam."

"Hurry before they get to him!" Geek cried.

Max ran out of the room, pulling the rabbit girl along as he ran back home with her.

The girl yelped as she ran along side him.

Once home, Max practically kicked the door open and let go of her. "_Sam!_"

He gasped as he saw Sam laying on the floor all bloody.

Max took a shaky step further into the house, staring with wide eyes at Sam. "... S-... S-Sam...?"

Sam groaned weakly as he opened his eyes.

Max rushed to his side and knelt next to him. "Sam, what happened?!"

"Th-they came ba-back..."

"I-I've gotta... I've gotta get you to the hospital...!"

Sam weakly nodded.

Max teleported him to the hospital, only to be greeted by a fleet of soldiers who knew that bringing Sam here would be the first thing on his mind.

"M-Max... R-run..."

"Run and the dog gets it." One of the soldiers said.  
>"N-no... No, please, don't hurt Sam anymore...!" Max begged as he snuggled into Sam, sobbing. He wasn't going anywhere so long as they kept threatening to hurt Sam.<p>

"M-Max..." Sam teared up.

The soldiers grabbed Max and put handcuffs on him, meanwhile he just kept crying against Sam.  
>"If I just let you bastards have me, will you leave Sam alone...?" He asked them.<br>They agreed halfheartedly.

"P-please, don't take my b-buddy..." Sam weakly begged.

"Sam, everything I did before?!" Max called out as they started to tug him away. "I couldn't remember it because that _wasn't me!_ I was under the chief's control because Geek made him a little sp-" A hand clamped around Max's face, shutting him up as he was dragged out.

Tears fell as Sam slowly passed out.

* * *

><p>When he awoke, he had been treated to the best of the doctors' abilities.<p>

The rabbit girl was curled up next to him fast asleep.

Max was, of course, nowhere to be found.

Sam hung his head in sadness as he blamed himself for Max getting captured.

It seemed that if he wanted to get Max back again, he'd have to start with questioning Geek.

But Sam was too injured to go see her.

Maybe the rabbit girl could go and ask her things.

She seemed to know what he was thinking and ran out to talk to Geek.

For a second, Geek thought the girl was Max, but was left confused when she saw that she was wrong. "Oh... Hello?"

"Hi. I'm a friend of Mr. Max's. The mean men hurt Mr. Sam and took Mr. Max away."

"That's horrible!"

"Mr. Max tried to tell something important to Mr. Sam but was taken away before he could."

"Do you have any idea what he was trying to tell Sam?"

"All I heard was he said it was a setup and that it wasn't him."

"... I can tell Sam more if he needs to know anything..."

"He does. He needs to know what Mr. Max was talking about."

Geek got out of the bed and weakly managed to make it to Sam's room.

Sam looked over at her. "Geek..."

"I heard what happened..." She said in a sympathetic voice.

"Yeah and it's all my fault..."

"Don't be so hard on yourself..." Geek sat in a chair next to the bed. "I also heard that he was trying to tell you something before those bastards took him away?"

"Yes, he was saying you made something?"

Geek sighed. "The chief asked me to make something that could be used to control someone. He didn't tell me what he was going to use it for, and I wasn't going to argue. Had I known what he was going to do with it, which was apparently use it on Max, I wouldn't have made it..."

"You mean the chief was behind this whole thing?!" he growled.

"It seems so."

"But why?"

Geek shrugged. "That's just it. I'm not sure."

"I want to help Max but I'm too injured."

"It looks like Max might have to wait, then... We'll just have to hope that he'll be okay."

"I can help!" the rabbit girl chimed in.

Geek looked at her. "I don't know if it's safe for you to go alone..."

The girl made an ice ball in her hand. "I can handle myself."

"If you're sure... I'm just worried that if they've used the spider on Max before, they might use it on him again. It was never really tested for a second use on someone, and it was fairly simple in design so they could've duplicated it..."

"I'll be careful."

"Well... If you're ready, you'd better hurry." Geek told her where the nearest military base was. "They might not keep him there for very long, though."

She nodded and went on her way.


End file.
